Identification of differential plasma miRNA profiles in Chinese workers with occupational lead exposure.

Ming Xu,Zhengmin Yu,Baoli Zhu,Lixin Zhong,Hengdong Zhang,Lei Han,Feifei Hu,Hongbing Zhang,Yan An

doi:10.1042/bsr20171111

Abstract

Elevated lead absorptions are hazardous factors in lead-related workers. Previous studies have found its toxic impacts on nervous, circulatory, and metabolic systems. We hypothesized that alteration of miRNAs profile in plasma was closely associated with lead exposure. We analyzed to identify lead-related miRNAs in workers occupationally exposed to lead. Microarray assay was performed to detect plasma miRNA between workers with high and minimal lead exposure in the discovery stage. The following prediction of miRNAs’ candidate target genes was carried out by using miRecords, STRING, and KEGG databases. We finally identified four miRNAs significantly associated with high level of blood lead. miR-520c-3p (*P=0.014), miR-211 (*P=0.019), and miR-148a (*P=0.031) were downexpressed in workers with high lead exposure and with high blood lead level (BLL), while miR-572(*P=0.027) displayed an opposite profile. Functional analysis of miRNAs displayed that these miRNAs could trigger different cellular genes and pathways. People under chronic lead exposure had a diverse ‘fingerprint’ plasma miRNA profile. Our study suggested that miR-520c-3p, miR-211, miR-148a, and miR-572 were the potential biomarkers for lead susceptibility in Chinese.

Highlights

Lead (Pb) is a common material existing in the Earth, and widely utilized in industry
We have measured the expression of plasma miRNAs and performed a characterization in a group of workers with chronic lead exposure
By retrospective investigation and further validation, we identified that miR-211 was strongly associated with lead exposure susceptibility. These findings suggested that miR-211 could be regarded as a potential biomarker for personnel screening of lead-associated jobs

Summary

Introduction

Lead (Pb) is a common material existing in the Earth, and widely utilized in industry. In 2006, the inorganic lead compounds were considered as potentially carcinogenic to humans by IARC organization [5]. With economy blooming, both governments and workers have become more aware of the lead-induced occupational health problems. The U.S National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) report estimated that over 3 million workers in U.S.A. were potentially exposed to lead during their working time [6]. Lead contamination has been commonly detected in plants, livestock, poultry, and humans c 2017 The Author(s).

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